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I want to take the opportunity to make a special announcement with
regard to contact and communications with me.

It's no big secret, that for years now my "Achilles Heel" has always
been communications with the membership, delayed responses, or
simply lack thereof. The reasons for this have been many. But put
simply, it's been a struggle to juggle communications with you while
making things happen and bringing things to life for you. It's been
an upset balance almost from day one. What started out as a hobby
turned quickly into something larger. And it has grown much larger
than me. The time has come to try to implement a more efficient way
to keep in contact with the community while I do what is necessary
to continue to fulfill my obligations, both current and future.

As most of you know, I have always been one man doing the work of
many. I have never had employees as other makers have. I've had
to take on multiple roles in my time here at TDH. Sculptor, Producer,
Shipping and receiving, accounting, public relations, technical support,
and friend to the community. Unfortunately, there is no way anyone
can successfully manage such tasks when the scope and scale has
outgrown your abilities. I am a typical man, with a reasonably typical
ego. And what comes with that is a "pig headed" mentality that says,
"I got it covered, I can do this". Just as much as not asking your wife
or significant other to give you proper directions and taking it upon
yourself to get you both lost, I've stood my ground until I found myself
looking around wondering where the hell I am. Along the way, the most
significant aspect I seem to have failed is my "friendship" to the
community.

The perfect example of all of this is the current GMH project that's
on the table. It would seem that Stormrider has finally been able
to articulate what I and most others have tried to over the years
and failed. In "layman's terms" ...

There are members here that have been around a long time that have
seen this first hand, not just from me, but from others as well. An
understanding has been developed over the course of time that this is
the way it is, and in this hobby patience is "key". The problem is, with
TDH growing at the speed of light our newer members do not necessarily
come on board with a built in understanding. Unfortunately, it is often
left to the "Older membership" to allay the concerns of our newer
members when one arrises. This is not only unfair to those gracious
enough to donate their time and efforts to vouch for me, but as inefficient
as all get out. For the record, each and every one of you that
have spoken up, or out for me over the years. I thank you

Moving forward to the point of this most recent novella :

A decision has been made to attempt to clean up the mess I've seemed to
have created. I cannot emphasize this enough, and will re-emphasize this
through the rest of my message to you all ... this is a "pilot program".

From this point forward, the vast majority of my communication with the
community will be handled through our very own "Flo Fett". She has
graciously stepped forward to help assist in improving communications
between myself and the community.

Most of you will look at this as somewhat of a "secretarial duty". I want to
be very clear, that it is much more than that. "Flo Fett" (Florence) is not a
"secretary". She is my "Fiancé". The love of my life, and my partner in life.
So I would ask each and every one of you to use the utmost courtesy when
corresponding with her (both privately and publicly), and offer her the
highest level of respect. If anyone fails to extend her these courtesies, your
message will not only be ignored by her, but addressed by "ME", and will
likely force me to re-evavluate this new policy. I would very much like to see
this promoting the secondary backbone that makes TDH ... and that is we were
built as a "Family Community". Hopefully, it will help set a trend and be a
perfect example of members and their families working together for a
common goal.

For those of you that may not have yet been "in the know" about something
as profound as this, it will likely open a gaggle of new questions with regard
to recent history and my own personal tragedies. This is not the time, nor
the place to discuss such matters as they are not only "deeply" personal,
but even more tragic now. So I ask each and every one of you to use discretion
in your replies here as well as your private communications with either of us.
When the time is "right", I will of course tie the "loose ends" for those of you
that care to know.

Moving on with procedure :

The way this will work is VERY simple. Florence's communications with you
on "my behalf" will be handled through "MY ACCOUNT". "FETTPRIDE". So
please, keep this in mind. Again, all communications intended for "ME",
will be NO DIFFERENT than before. You will PM ME, "FETTPRIDE", and your
messages will be answered in a reasonable time by "FLORENCE" when I am
unable, or indisposed. If you direct your messages to her account, they
will go "UNREAD". This is not to be "mean". But only to make sure that
her own account isn't inundated with messages.

Someone may likely pose the question that this is against the policies here
at TDH because it closely borders "sockpuppeting" with Florence logging into
my account to answer messages. I must emphasize that express permission has
been granted by TDH's Administration. To be specific, the owner of the board.
So every step and reassurance has been taken and given to promote a more
streamlined method of my interacting with the membership. Let's face it, no
matter how many methods I have given for anyone to contact me
(I'm the only maker that has made public his personal addresses and phone
numbers) it's moot when you consider that if I'm unable to respond to a PM, it's
likely that I won't be able to respond to an email, FB message or voicemail
either.

When you message me, it will be made VERY CLEAR to whom you are speaking
with. ALL messages will be signed by either myself or Florence accordingly.
There will be no ruses here. No split personalities. No one hiding behind
anyone else. To be even more specific, you'll always know the difference.
Florence is from Scotland, her articulation, her spelling and grammar, and
her general method of communications is VERY different from this old redneck

To everyone here at TDH I would like to give you my sincerest apologies for
having dropped the big red ball for so many years. I do realize that it has
become quite an irritation (at best) to communicate with me, or patronize
me. So much so, that it has hindered both business and friendships. It is
my sincerest hope, that this will go smoothly and provide you ALL with a
much better service

I will petition the Administration to make this a "STICKY" so that it won't
get lost in the shuffle of day to day threads and will always be available
to newer members.

3. Please make your communications straight forward and try not to convolute.
For the most efficient response, it will be best to be strait forward and clear.

GUIDELINES :

* Matters of a more personal nature especially, will be addressed by myself
directly, but will likely produce a more delayed response. Rest assured, this in
no way means that I'm going to become "the little man behind the curtain". I
will make myself available as I always have to the best of my abilities.

** Lewd, or otherwise inappropriate conduct / behavior will NOT be tolerated by
either one of us, or the Administration. I would ask that you treat Florence with
the same level of respect that you have given "Mirax" (Kristen) over the years **

*** Keep in mind, that Florence is also "ONE PERSON". She will do her best to
make sure everyone is treated equally, and in order. But please understand
that she does "WORK A DAY JOB", and there is a time difference because she
is still in Scotland at the moment, and will still be for a short time. Until she
arrives in the States, please remember this as you await a response as any
response you receive will likely be in "OUR" wee hours of the morning or
early afternoon and weekends.

Please bear with us, as we get our feet wet with this. Understand that this is
the first time either of us has done anything quite like this and it will not be
an exact science at first. There will be mistakes until we can get some sort
of rhythm going.

If we can all follow along, this will likely become permanent. But I re-emphasize
that this is a "TRIAL" program. What Florence is doing for me, is a benefit to us
ALL. I am grateful and feel very privileged that she has stepped up to offer her
assistance. Thank you sweetheart, I love you

First of all i'd like to say hello to anyone who doesn't know me here. Hello!

And then i'd like to say how happy I am to be able to help out the man I love. It's entirely my pleasure sweetheart, I only wish I could do more. Mind you when I get to the States you can set me to packing boxes too! :-)

On a more serious note I'd like to reiterate that any form of rudeness will result in all future PM's from the offending party being deleted unread. All I want to do is help out this community and help out Chris. TDH is an amazing family of fans and i want to do my little bit to make the process of acquiring that desirable Fett item just that bit easier for everyone involved.
Hopefully my taking over of Chris' 'customer services' will allow the whole process to be smoother for both sides. It means at the very least that Chris can get on with the business of doing what he does best without having to spend hours ploughing through the mountain of PM's he receives, which obviously holds up production and stresses both sides out.

And just to allay any worries you may have about dealing with Chris through me I have been a moderator on a large Star Wars forum, I know one end of a blaster from the other and I'm used to dealing with high volumes of enquiries so don't worry that your message will fall by the wayside forgotten.

I hope we can all play nicely and get on with the business of doing what this forum is best at doing...making sure every one of you has a quality Fett costume that would bring a tear to a glass eye.

And lastly to Chris I'd just like to say, thank you darling for letting me be a part of all this. I love you so much xxxxx

As Fettpride has become more of a "business" than ever before, you gotta do what you gotta do to keep things going. Glad to see you're trying a new system to keep the contact going with your customers, with Flo Fett doing the PMs.

I've met a few other full time makers of costume stuff (one person operations) that have gotten verbally slammed on the various boards with the people waiting on stuff, and have gotten just as frustrated about it over the many years I've been in the costuming communities. Same thing you're experiencing right now. Stormrider was dead on..... if one person is sculpting pieces, molding those pieces, making casts from those molds, taking shipments to the mailing center....that person will not be sitting their butt on the internet all day reading PMs and responding to people who sometimes contact them multiple times per week (sometimes daily) wondering where their parts are. Some people are just super impatient. I know with this hobby you can wait for months for some random costume part to arrive in the mail. For me, when I get the piece, GREAT! I'm not one who will pop up every week demanding to know where my parts are. Gee....you think I'm the first person in line when you have tons of orders happening at once? NOT. So many people seem think this way, and it's not realistic when you really sit back and thing about it. Stormrider did hit the nail on the head exactly how life is for full time costume part suppliers in a one person operation.

Hope your new system works better for you, Chris. Also hope Florence has a safe journey moving to the United States.

Chris, I have been dealing with you long enough to know that you pour your heart and soul into everything you do. Even PMs! You always go to the Nth degree to explain everything thoroughly and leave nothing unsaid. You're always writing novellas, as you even admit! And that's great, but as anyone with a brain would know, that takes A LOT of time. You can't spend that kind of time at the keyboard and get to everybody. This new system is a great idea to help you with your perfectionism (I mean that in the most positive light) and for everyone who wants the best Fett stuff. Three cheers to you both! No doubt you will make a great team. And again, congratulations.

Most of you will look at this as somewhat of a "secretarial duty". I want to be very clear, that it is much more than that. "Flo Fett" (Florence) is not a "secretary". She is my "Fiancé". The love of my life, and my partner in life.

It is great to hear you are happy. The props are nice but, finding somebody you can connect to is the part the matters.

Cool.. best wishes on the new direction. I'm new to the site but not new to having custom items made. So I know what it is to be patient for a product. You've provided updates as needed so there is no harm in waiting for a **** good product. Do what you do. Do what any Marine would do, and that is do an outstanding job. We do not know how to do it any other way... God Bless to you and Flo... Semper Fi.

My little thing, WCA, makes WAY less stuff than you and we have 4 people involved! I think in my entire "career" as a prop maker I've packed maybe 1/2 a dozen boxes. I'd say maybe one in 30 WCA helmets has actually ever been touched by my hands.

Getting help like this will make a huge difference for you.

One bit of advice that I'll also PM would be some sort of log about where the orders are at. Not necessarily by person, but even if you could say "All orders placed on or before 10/2/2010 have been shipped" would let people figure out for themselves if they should be contacting you.

Cool.. best wishes on the new direction. I'm new to the site but not new to having custom items made. So I know what it is to be patient for a product. You've provided updates as needed so there is no harm in waiting for a **** good product. Do what you do. Do what any Marine would do, and that is do an outstanding job. We do not know how to do it any other way... God Bless to you and Flo... Semper Fi.

Wendell, God bless you brother, it means a great deal to us Semper Fi !

stormtrooperguy said:

I am personally amazed that you tried for so long to do it alone!

My little thing, WCA, makes WAY less stuff than you and we have 4 people involved! I think in my entire "career" as a prop maker I've packed maybe 1/2 a dozen boxes. I'd say maybe one in 30 WCA helmets has actually ever been touched by my hands.

Getting help like this will make a huge difference for you.

One bit of advice that I'll also PM would be some sort of log about where the orders are at. Not necessarily by person, but even if you could say "All orders placed on or before 10/2/2010 have been shipped" would let people figure out for themselves if they should be contacting you.

Brian, I want to thank you for the support and words of "experience" you've shown. Coming from someone who understands the "in's and out's" it can make a great deal of difference to those that may not understand how this all works. And I must say, you present it as profound as it really is. It is a CrAzY undertaking with many pitfalls.

In regard to the "PM" suggestion, it is a sound bit of advice. Though something like that hasn't been feasible until now for a few different reasons. But that's all the gritty "behind the scenes" stuff I've actually had a system that has worked quite well over the years with regular things. Of course, we outgrow everything eventually. I'd likely not have reached this point without a system. But the "GMH" project was just a very different animal on every level. Most things of course being the politics behind the scenes. I do though appreciate your constructive words and take them as a positive contribution, so ... Thank you again And a bleated congrats on becoming a Mod ! Wow man, way to be stealth about it

To everyone else, I also thank you for your kind words as well. It is, and will be a much more fluid machine in the future.
Best to all,